Introduction
First run in 1861, the Melbourne Cup has a long and celebrated history and is Australia’s most famous horse race. Run over 2 miles at Flemington racecourse on the first Tuesday in November, the “race that stops the nation ” brings a field of the world’s best staying horses to the track in search of fame and fortune.
The 2023 Melbourne Cup will be run on Tuesday 7th November with a total prize money of $7,750,000.
The Melbourne Cup: A Brief Overview
The first Melbourne Cup was won by Archer, who also won the second edition of the race in 1862. Since then, only four horses have won the race more than once, with PETER PAN, RAIN LOVER and THINK BIG dual winners, while the incomparable MAKYBE DIVA won the race three times. A number of other great champions have also won the race, including PHAR LAP, RISING FAST, GALILEE, LET’S ELOPE, SAINTLY and MIGHT AND POWER.
But while the stars of the race are the horses, there has been no bigger name in the history of the Melbourne Cup than trainer Bart Cummings. Iconic trainer Bart Cummings trained a staggering 12 winners in the race, with LIGHT FINGERS his first winner in 1965 and VIEWED his last in 2008. Bobby Lewis and Harry White have ridden the most winners in the race with four and businessman Lloyd Williams has enjoyed success as an owner a total of six times. rode the Melbourne Cup winner four times.
Here are five reasons why you should bet on the Melbourne Cup:
Reason #1: High Stakes and Big Payouts
The great thing about a $7+ million race is that bettors can be confident that horses will be primed and ready to peak. With 24 horses in the Cup and with those stayers coming from varied build ups there is always plenty of value to be found. It is not unusual for the favourite to be at odds of $7 or more. This allows punters to back multiple horses in the race to win and still return a tidy profit.
Reason #2: Competitive Field and Exciting Racing
The Melbourne Cup was Australia’s first truly international race. The win of Irish stayer VINTAGE CROP in 1993 opened the floodgates for international raiders with winners coming from Ireland, United Kingdom and Japan. The international flavour of the race adds another dimension to doing the form for the race and astute punters can gain an edge.
As well as bringing different types of form into the race, the international horses also bring a different style of racing to Australia. European horses are used to small field sizes and like open space. The 100,000 crowd and 24 horse field provide them with neither.
Some horses will thrive in the conditions while others falter. The battle is choosing which horse and jockey can handle the pressure.
Reason #3: A Variety of Betting Options
As the most popular horse race in Australia, the Melbourne Cup provides a great variety of betting options. There are the traditional bet types such as Win, Place and Each-Way as well as exotic bet types quinella, trifecta and first 4. Due to the large field size and bets placed the prize pools in the Cup are huge which enables big payouts to be made to winners.
The introduction of a “Same Race Multi” (SGM) in recent years has added another dimension to betting on the race. SGM offers bet types for the race to be combined with a fixed priced payout.
Reason #4: Cultural Significance and Festive Atmosphere
The Melbourne Spring Carnival begins in late September and runs up until mid-November with feature races every Saturday plus the occasional big race during the week. The culmination of the Carnival is the “Melbourne Cup Carnival” which spans across four days; Derby Day, Melbourne Cup Day, Oaks Day and Stakes Day.
Crowds of over 100,000 can attend a single race day and the Melbourne Cup is celebrated with a public holiday. The atmosphere at the track is electric and even better when you back a winner!
Reason #5: Opportunities for Research and Analysis
When the international horses first began racing in the Melbourne Cup it was hard to ascertain the horses winning chances due to the difficulty in sourcing oversea form and race replays. The information age has made finding race replays and form easy. There is no excuse for not being prepared.
Conclusion
The Melbourne Cup is not only a race that stops the nation, but is one of the world’s most famous horse races. Betting on the race is a lot of fun and can be very profitable with big payouts common on exotic bet types and Same race Multis. Online bookmaker Palmerbet offers great odds and a vast array of Melbourne Cup betting odds on the big race with markets available throughout the year.
Visit Palmerbet.com and start betting with them today.
